PARIS (AFP) - Yasser Arafat`s condition has not changed one way or other since a health bulletin was issued Friday, the health department of the French armed forces told AFP.
"There is no change one way or another compared to the health bulletin issued Friday," said General Christian Estripeau, the spokesman for France`s military medical service.
No statement to the press is planned for Saturday, he added.
On Friday General Estripeau had said outside the hospital treating the 75-year-old Palestinian leader near Paris that Arafat`s health had "not deteriorated" and was considered stable.
Arafat`s condition "is considered stable since the last health update" given 24 hours earlier on Thursday, he had told journalists.
Estripeau did not answer questions and did not respond to information from a French medical source that Arafat was "brain dead" but being kept technically alive through life support.
Palestinian officials have denied that Arafat was being kept in a vegetative state, but acknowledged that he was in a critical condition between life and death.
Palestinian negotiations minister Saeb Erakat said Saturday that Arafat was not brain dead and not on life support equipment.
"The president is not brain dead. His brain and heart are functioning. He is not living off machines," Erakat told reporters ahead of a meeting of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
Former prime minister Mahmud Abbas, who is acting leader of the PLO in Arafat`s absence, said: "The meetings are going on. We are following up on the health of the president. His health is stable."
Conflicting reports swirled about Arafat`s condition, with the website of the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot saying Saturday the Palestinian leader had opened his eyes overnight and communicated with his doctors.
The paper quoted an important Palestinian figure who said he had been at Arafat`s bedside as its source.
In Paris, top Arafat aide Nabil Abu Rudeina said the Palestinian leader remained in critical condition but that he was not beyond recovery.
11/06/2004 - 16:23 GMT - AFP